Customer Reviews

Strange Attractors: Volume Two of the 'The Chaos Chronicles'

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I finished Neptune Crossing I immediately returned to locate Strange Attractors. I had to find out where John Bandicut had ended up and what would happen to him.

Carver develops a world of overwhelming technology... one that envelopes a space the size of our solar system. John Bandicut has been brought here because he was needed. He has no idea where he is or why he is needed by such an advanced civilization.

The plus to this book is the relationship Carver builds between Bandicut, his two robots, and his new friends Ik and La-Jared. He also brings out Bandicut's deep sense of loss at finding himself thousands of light years from home thorugh a developing relationship between John and a human-looking alien named Antares.

I read this book almost entirely without putting it down... and immediately reached for the next book in the series.

STRANGE ATTRACTORS is the second book in Carver's "Chaos Chronicles" series. I was rather ambivalent after reading the first installment (NEPTUNE CROSSING). There were aspects of it I liked and other aspects I wasn't especially happy with. STRANGE ATTRACTORS, however, was better. I felt it was a solid step up from NEPTUNE... and I enjoyed it much more.

To be sure, there are still problems. The "boojum" is a rather vague entity, the characters remain underdeveloped, and I've gotten a little weary of the quarx dying and then resurrecting itself with no memory of past events. A couple of times is one thing, but after four or five generations of Charlie it's gotten a little old.

For space opera, though, this is fairly good stuff. Intriguing new worlds (or, at least, environments) are explored and you never know what will turn up around the next corner. There's a fair amount of action and some interesting aliens. It wasn't deep, but it was fun and it held my interest. If good space opera is what you want, give this one a try.

STRANGE ATTRACTORS is the second book in Carver's "Chaos Chronicles" series. I was rather ambivalent after reading the first installment (NEPTUNE CROSSING). There are aspects of it I liked and other aspects I wasn't especially happy with. STRANGE ATTRACTORS, however, was better. I feel it is a solid step up from NEPTUNE... and I enjoyed it considerably more.

To be sure, there are still problems. The "boojum" is a rather vague entity, the characters remain underdeveloped, and I'm getting a little weary of the quarx dying and then resurrecting himself with no memory of past events. A couple of times is one thing, but after four or five generations of Charlie it's getting a little old.

For space opera, though, this is fairly good stuff. Intriguing new worlds (or, at least, environments) are explored and you never know what will turn up around the next corner. There's a fair amount of action and some interesting aliens. It wasn't deep, but it was fun and it held my interest. If good space opera is what you want, give this series a try.

John Bandicut and his pals are back in this je'ne sais qoi of a space opera. There are scenes in this book that reminded me of the alien bar scene in Star Wars I(V) and scenes that are unique to the book. Bandicoot is sidetracked (kidnapped?) to an intergalatic arc worldship and all that he has is blind gumption and a quixotic alien entity guiding him named Charlie that lives in his mind. Bandicoot must save this intergalatic arc from the clutches of an evil malevolent force known as the boojum (translation for boogey man). This part reminded me of the excellent Madeleine De'Engle(sp?) story A Wrinkle in Time (another highly entertaining and compelling SF) and tesseracting. Can Bandicut save the shipworld and himself from the clutches of the Boojum? Read this and see!!!

As we all know science fiction is a difficult genre to write in. And just because you read science fiction does not mean that it is the same science fiction another fan may read. We all have our own tastes, but in my opinion, this is another fine book by Jeffery Carver. This series is interesting, has great characters, an interesting universe, and I could not put it down. The second book is better than the first, but the entire series is good. There is a fourth book on the way. I suggest you try the first and second book sin the series, you will be hooked!

I beg to disagree. I found the entire series of three books so far to be readable, descriptive, and thoroughly enjoyable. I have introduced this series to lots of my friends and all have clamored for the next in the series. His use of descriptive language is so strong that I feel like I am entering this outer space world. I will agree that I do not regularly read sci fi, but I did enjoy this.

This book is pretty good,although did anyone mention it had a lot of cussing in it? This book is probably appropriate for 9+ year olds.

I enjoyed Neptune Crossing very much and couldn't wait to read this book. However, I have to say that it was quite a disappointment. The characters all remain very flat and unconvincing. The whole book consists of Bandicut and a couple of fellow aliens chasing and being chased by some computational "disturbance", whose nature is never resolved. The characters actions also do not make any sense to the reader, one just keeps wondering why the hell they are doing what they're doing.

Compared to Neptune Crossing, the author unleashes a wealth of alien creatures and technologies at the reader, but in contrast to the capturing descriptions in the previous novel, all the alien scenery remains a flat, unimpressive background that not even the novel's hero truly interacts with.

What especially annoyed me was the repeated dying of the quarx. Presented as a being with many memories of working with several races in the first book, it just doesn't jibe with it dying and resurrecting about 4 times within the same host.

Background: I came to the book because I was interested in reading Sunborn, the fourth installment in the series, and wanted to get the backstory first. Crossing Neptune was interesting enough to get me to pick up Strange Attractors, but unfortunately I couldn't make heads or tails of the book. I gave up after about 100 pages.

The characters just aren't that interesting, and their motivation, to keep moving so as not to be eaten by the mysterious boojum -- no joke -- just couldn't persuade me to stick with the story. There are too many good books in the world to read.

Easily the worst experience I've had this year (written July 99). I believe this was published as an attempt to market a digital game - the story line simply features the characters escaping from dangers in one world after another. And how about that 'Bandicut' name ? The 'characters' are too shallow even to qualify as stereotypes - Bandicut the protagonist attempts to assert his depth every 50 pages by getting a lump in his throat remembering his girlfriend. 'Charlie' the alien is a cutsie invisible friend who 'dies' at the end of every level of play - I mean, scene - only to reappear whenever it is convenient. The villian this time, 'the boojum' ( how charming !) comes and goes at random, is never plausibly explained ( what is it ? why does it ... ? ) and exists mainly to jump from behind doors in the dark.

The covers tout the mastery of 'hard science' evidenced by this book, but simply repeating concepts one has read in Popular Science does not evidence mastery - nor does it make for interesting reading.

I hold nothing against Mr. Carver - I wish him well ! But this particular effort is not worth reading, much less buying.